Billy Connolly was such a pro he said nothing about cancer during filming of his latest comedy

00:00, 19 Sep 2014

ByBrian McIver

THE directors of Billy Connolly's new film say he was a joy to work with during filming of What we Did on Our Holiday last Summer.

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Billy Connolly and Rosamund Pike both star in What we Did on Our Holiday Last Summer

THEY knew he was one of Scotland’s most talented performers.

But the directors of his latest film had no idea just how brave Billy Connolly was until he finished shooting the role of a man seriously ill with cancer.

Only then did he tell his colleagues he was about to undergo cancer surgery in real life.

The 71-year-old kept film-makers Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton in the dark about his prostate cancer diagnosis when they were shooting comedy What we Did on Our Holiday last summer.

The film-makers, best known for TV hits such as Outnumbered and Drop the Dead Donkey, said they were blown away by the Glasgow-born comedian’s bravery as he fought cancer and dealt with the recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

Director Guy Jenkin with Billy Connolly

In the movie out today (Sept 19), Connolly plays an enigmatic Scot whose bickering family, including David Tennant, Ben Miller and Rosamund Pike, gather for his 75th birthday and are embroiled in all kinds of lies and schemes as they try to have a peaceful holiday together.

Andy said they were stunned by his strength, especially as he was playing a character seriously ill with cancer himself.

The timeline was such that we didn’t know about Billy’s health problems during the film,” said the director.

“He was very stoic, I’m presuming there was stuff going on but that wasn’t a problem for us, he just soldiered on and was very professional.

“It was only after we finished that he told us he was having the surgery for prostate cancer, which was a success, and we learned later about the diagnosis of Parkinson’s. He did a brilliant job of making sure that it wasn’t our problem.

“We were really impressed that he had managed so well, it was quite an arduous shoot, we buried him in sand a couple of times, a day at a time, and I think we were just struck by how stoic and determined he was.”

Director Hamilton Andy with young Amelia Jones, who plays Lottie McLeod in the movie

The eagerly awaited new comedy, which centres around Connolly’s character dealing with his rowing family and his beloved grandkids, also features Tennant in a rare comedy role.

Tennant and Rosamund Pike play a cool London couple who are divorcing but bring their three kids to their grandfather’s birthday party and try to hush up the break up so as not to worry him.

A stellar cast is completed by Ben Miller doing a fine Scottish accent as Tennant’s posh brother Gavin and Annette Crosbie as a lesbian crofter, while Celia Imrie and Jake D’Arcy also have great turns.

The other main star of the film is the stunning Scottish countryside. Shot along the beaches of Gairloch and the waters of Loch Katrin, there is hardly a shot that doesn’t seem to also double as a VisitScotland promo clip.

Shot just over a year ago, during the same heatwave which greeted Andy Murray’s Wimbledon win, Andy and Guy set up camp in the Highlands for a fortnight. And had the time of their lives.

Guy admitted: “It’s the only place in Britain that you can get those huge dramatic landscapes which shrink human beings to look so small.

“It took a while to get the perfect locations, we went up there in February when it was minus 12 and the sea was freezing round the edge, so we saw a Scottish beach in a very different light but we covered a lot of beaches in a week, which was fantastic fun. We saw some great ones and when we walked over the hill at Gairloch, that was it.

“That gave us that kind of breadth and power that we were looking for.

“Inevitably in every film you are fighting budgets and so on and the question is could we make it work on a beach near Edinburgh but we were very concerned to get those two weeks up north because the scenery is part of the film.

“You see a family thrown into somewhere which is completely wild, and that is part of it.

“If more English holidaymakers head to Scotland, I would see that as a compliment. It can’t do any harm because Scotland looks brilliant.“

Much of the drama and comedy falls on the shoulders of the three children at the heart of the story.

The film-makers drew on their experience from their recently ended smash hit sitcom Outnumbered to get the best out of the young actors.

Guy said: “What it did was we utilised many of the techniques that we use on Outnumbered in terms of how we work with the kids, and interacting with the grown-ups.

And he added: “Billy was great for that – he is very relaxed on set and when he performs, in the voice and in the face, there is a real power. He was great at making children laugh and was very generous with them